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Riverwalk scene: 'Nothing but KU fans'

SAN ANTONIO — Strolling the Riverwalk on Friday, fans of Richmond, Florida State and Virginia Commonwealth had to feel more outnumbered than Davy Crockett at the Alamo.

“It's nothing but Kansas fans,” said Brad Ford, a VCU student.

KU clearly was the main attraction at the NCAA Tournament's Southwest Regional, where the top-seeded Jayhawks defeated No. 12 seed Richmond 77-57 on Friday night, advancing to the Elite Eight.

The Jayhawks were joined in San Antonio by three Cinderella hopefuls, marking the first time in tournament history that three double-digit seeds advanced to the Sweet 16 in the same region.

The regional's unusual composition was reflected by the crowds flowing through the restaurants and bars in San Antonio's Riverwalk district, where blue was the dominant color.

“We're a bit outnumbered,” said Mark McGonigal, a former Richmond basketball player who flew from Philadelphia to attend the game.

KU is a Sweet 16 regular, which can't be said of the other teams in the regional.

Richmond, a school of roughly 3,000 students that plays in the Atlantic-10 Conference, has made one other Sweet 16 appearance in its history. The Spiders weren't projected to make it this year, but they advanced with an upset of No. 5 seed Vanderbilt and a win against No. 13 seed Morehead State.

Duncan McLean, another former Richmond player, said the Spiders were well represented given the size of their school.

“(KU) probably has more students enrolled than we have living alums,” McLean said. “I think we have like 40,000 living alums.”

VCU was another Sweet 16 surprise after barely making the tournament as a No. 11 seed. The Rams needed three wins to reach San Antonio, winning a play-in game against Southern California and knocking off No. 6 seed Georgetown and No. 3 seed Purdue.

“We were surprised to get in the tournament,” VCU student Brandon Hess said.

Now that they are here, the three upstarts have a common goal of slaying the giant.

“Once we beat Georgetown, I was like, 'There's nothing this team can't do right now,' ” said John Hulley, a trombone player in the VCU band. “There's a part of me that almost wants Kansas to win (against Richmond), just so we can slay Kansas in front of everyone.”

Despite the absence of marquee competition, KU fans aren't expecting a cakewalk into the Final Four.

"Seeding doesn't seem to make any difference any more," said Larry Hawk, of Independence, Mo. "It's matchups. Every team that is there today can win any time they have a good game."